Dan's Papers - June 13, 2008 - Stock the Pantry in Time for Home Entertaining

When I was assigned to write an article on stocking the pantry I thought back to the beginning of my marriage when I bragged to my new sister-in-law that I stocked my pantry with the total sum of $36. Well, today, a bottle of quality extra-virgin olive oil would dig deep into the $36. No doubt there wasn't the variety of basic pantry items that the home cook could have dreamed about or had access to today.

Oils and vinegars are important basics to the well-stocked pantry today along with mustards, herbs and spices - I think of them as accessories to my pantry. Having them on hand affords me the luxury of seasoning and flavoring foods in a variety of ways. Serious cooks have become as choosy about their oils as they are about fine wines. I generally have two or three different extra-virgin olive oils on hand - peppery Tuscan oil, full-flavored Greek oil and milder, fruity Spanish oil. I love vinegars and enjoy the variety available - a gutsy red wine vinegar and piquant Spanish sherry wine vinegar are at the top of my list. Balsamic vinegar is a favorite among many. It's slightly sweeter and I especially enjoy it sprinkled on strawberries with a fresh grinding of pepper - which I learned to do many years ago from a dear Neapolitan friend.

These items are stored in an overhead wall cabinet that also holds bottles of grapeseed oil, dark sesame oil, light soy and organic Japanese soy sauce, mirin (syrupy rice wine) and fish sauce for my Asian recipes. The cabinet below the counter holds all-purpose flour in a large ceramic container - which I can dig into with a scoop measure - granulated and confectioners' sugar, cake flour, baking powder and Graham cracker crumbs for my baking needs; a box each of pouring and kosher salt to season foods when cooking, and sea salt to finish or compliment a dish. A note about using coarse (kosher) salt - first of all it's lighter than pouring salt and weighs half as much. This may sound strange because of its coarse texture, but it's true - and the taste is far superior. I decant my kosher salt into a covered, wide-mouth pottery ramekin to keep on my work counter along with a pepper mill. When you pick up salt with your fingertips, the tactile feel gives you more control when sprinkling your foods and you will find yourself using less. A few more essentials in this cabinet are vanilla and lemon extracts, peppercorns, cornstarch and corn meal, Coleman's dry mustard, and dry hot peppers, which I break open to rid the spicy seeds inside and then snip with kitchen shears to season. Just a reach away from the overhead cabinet is a large center island where a two-foot square pasta board holds firmly to the corner of the counter opposite the cabinets - it's not just for making pasta - the board is my main work space for chopping, slicing, dicing, tossing and seasoning foods. Below the island counter are draws holding rectangular boxes of heavy foil, plastic wrap, wax and parchment paper, and 1 and 2 gallon zip-lock bags - more handy essentials to the well stocked pantry.

A wall pantry holds all manner of dry pasta, spaghetti, linguini, angel hair and spinach pasta. Boxes of penne rigate, orecchiette, farfalle and gnocchette sardi all sit on a shelf along with cans of peeled plum tomatoes and tomato paste to make my own tomato sauce.

Arborio short grain rice for risotto, basic long grain rice, wild rice and sushi rice, along with dried beans, dry porcini mushrooms, panko (Japanese bread crumbs), grains, and plain couscous for that emergency side dish, all take up space on another shelf in this pantry. Also, there are blocks of baking chocolate and bags of chocolate chips, jars of jams and preserves, tins of salmon, tuna and anchovies, saffron and extra bottles of extra-virgin olive oil. I can never have enough on hand.

Storage for oils in particular should be in a cool, dark place; warmth increases the process of deterioration and oils will become rancid. When I open a bottle of olive oil I generally use it within a month. For walnut or hazelnut oils - delicious to dress a salad with - but don't use them frequently, keep them in the refrigerator. People will disagree on whether or not oil should be refrigerated. Some say it loses no flavor at all but becomes cloudy. Even if there is a slight loss of flavor when chilled, it is far better than having the oil go rancid. The convenience of a well stocked pantry will serve you well.